Temple 76, Konzōji, Shikoku

Konzōji is located at the birthplace of Chisho Daishi, a nephew of Kobo Daishi and founder of the Tendai Jimon sect of Buddhism. According to legend, the temple was built in 774, the year of Kobo Daishi’s birth, by his grandfather, Wake Dozen. Dozen named the temple Jizaiodo. After Kobo Daishi returned from China in 807, the temple was rebuilt in the style of Seiryuji Temple in China. 

At that time, Kobo Daishi carved the main image, a statue of Yakushi Nyorai (Medicine Buddha). In November 851 it became a government temple and was renamed Dozenji after its founder. The temple received its current name, Konzōji (金倉寺), in 928 by order of Emperor Daigo. He named it after Kamakura-go (金倉郷), the name of the place where it was located.

Chisho Daishi was called Nichidomaru when he was a child, and had a reputation for being very clever. It is said that when Chisho Daishi was two years old, people in the area saw an indescribable halo shining from his small body as he played alone. They said, “He must have been reborn from a Buddha. He will surely become a great man in the future.” They rejoiced in the birth of such a fine child. 

When he was five years old, a celestial maiden appeared in front of him and said, “You are a temporary form of Kokuzo Bosatsu (Bodhisattva of Wisdom and Memory), one of the Sankoten, the Three Star Devas. If you enter the Buddhist path in the future, I will protect you forever.” This heavenly maiden was the Kariteimo (also known as Kishimojin or Hariti), who is said to have become a Buddha after the Buddha took her youngest child for the sin of eating someone else’s child and taught her the pain of a mother who had lost her child. 

Thus Chisho Daishi, who grew up under the protection of Kariteimo, and was able to train himself and devote himself to spreading the Buddha Dharma.